Just finishing off the last bit of clearing up from KotDs last weekend, I was frantically waved at by the receptionist on the front desk. “I’ve got someone on the phone who’s says he has your bike number 750″ A bit puzzled as our hire bikes only go up to 60 and as far as I knew, they were all back, I put on the headset and took the call. The man at the other end of the phone repeated that he had our King of the Downs bike number 750 and when asked how he knew it was ours, he said it was because of the white rider number on the front with our logo on it. He then went on to explain how he came upon the bike and this is where it gets fun!

Hugh was walking down the road and saw some youths pushing a rather expensive looking carbon road bike. They didn’t look as though they could afford, or would, own such a bike so Hugh assumed it was stolen. He then approached the youths and asked if they wanted to sell the bike, to which they replied yes. He then purchased the bike from them, apparently haggling them down to £150! ( It’s replacement value is about £6000) Then he called us and got through to me. I took a few details and looked up rider number 750 on the pre-entry list.

The phone call to Jon went something like this:-

“Hi Jon, it’s Dean from Evans cycles”

“Hi Dean”

” Jon, are you missing anything?”

” Well I fell off yesterday so a bit of blood and some metal from my rear mech, but otherwise no”

” What about your bike”

” No, its at my local bike shop being repaired”

At this point I relayed my conversation with Hugh and suggested he contacted his bike shop. A while later John phone back to say that they said they still had his bike until he insisted they go and check. At which point there was a lot of swearing. Yep the youths had indeed stolen Johns bike from the bike shop.

John contacted Hugh and it’s been arranged that the bike shop will go and pick up the bike and reimburse Hugh for his troubles. He’s a New Zealander who is over here and is using the bike to complete 4 Ironman races ( 2 down, 2 to go) and some shorter Sportives (KotDs is a short Sportive?!!!) so would have been sunk without it.

This is such a good news story, I just had to post about it. I would love to think that I’d be able to have thought that quickly and done the same in that situation, but how many of us could? Anyway I’d just like to finish buy quoting Hugh in his conversation to John.

“I’ve had my bike stolen and I know how frustrating it is” “I knew a keen cyclist somewhere would currently be besides themselves, I had to try and get the bike off them..”

Such good news! – rode with John on Sunday and was witness to the hairpin incident that caused the blood and the loss of metal from the rear mech – it was truly spectacular! Great news it was returned though!

Great story, for once someone gets it back. So the kids got £150 right? But no punishment for thieving?!? Just thought it would have been even better (if could think fast enough) to tell them “I’ll have it for £150, but can’t get the cash to you till tomorrow, so what’s your address & i can collect it from you tomorrow?” (of course no guarantee its the right address tho)…but take the cops with you- so they maybe won’t do it again! as they got off scott free i would imagine that shop will be hit again.

I take my hat off to you (and Evans Cycles) for not wanting to “name & shame” the store in question. Once you ensured it wasn’t one of your stores, you were happy to let it be. That demonstrates true professionalism and collegiality in a relatively niche industry. As I’m sure you appreciate, the small local store was mortified and (obviously) exceptionally embarrassed. They went and collected my bike from Hugh, compensated him for his initial cash outlay & from what I understand have offered him free bike servicing in the future (with the assurance of extra security I hope!!)
If it wasn’t for my race number I would have been stuffed. I had not recorded the bike’s (or wheel’s) serial numbers – very VERY big learning point….
My KotD race number is now my official lucky charm, it shall never venture far from my saddle bag
Dean – thank you so much for making my day yesterday. Sunday’s race was outstanding. YOU GUYS ROCK!!!

Jordan – thieves got away with it unfortunately
Blur – I agree mate, but given the circumstances I believe Hugh’s actions/quick thinking resulted in the best possible outcome. By the sounds of it, by absolute fortune he crossed paths with them ~100m down the road from the store. If he had challenged them they would have no doubt done a runner or turned on him. By offering a buy it there and then the (obviously ignorant) thieves had no time to determine the bikes true value (S-Works SL-3 + Sram Red + Zipp 404’s + SLC+ powertap).. It’s incredibly frustrating knowing these little punks got away with it (and made a profit) & I appreciate that if anything it has encouraged them into a lucrative crime, but from my point of view, thanks to Hugh I still have my bike!!
Charlie – not a word from you! “That incident” shall never be mentioned again… I’d love to blame the wet road, but in a nutshell I broke every rule in the book regarding effective descents. Rookie mistake, very embarrassing ps – great meeting (and riding) with you.

Hi Will. Just want to add to Balints comments above. If you read the comments you’ll see that it wasn’t stolen from an Evans store and that the store in question picked up the bike and refunded the £150.